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Article in Neuron on counterintuitive outcomes of studies on technology and childhood development (referenced by Johan Lehrer)

With all of the unfounded claims being made by developers of early childhood learning toys regarding the educational efficacy of their products (read BABY EINSTEIN), I think that groups such as this one that review apps for safety and quality issues will become increasingly important. It's crazy that Android requires nothing of their Android Market developers than to pay a fee and submit a description and a few screenshots. App quality control will become a big deal, I'm predicting...

Stephen, Looks like a great business opportunity - an Apps Rating Agency like Moodys or S&P?

A contrarian view. "Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains."

First of all - the girl in the picture of this article is reading Nancy Drew - who else spent most of their childhood with their head buried in a mystery series? :-) Secondly, I cannot tell you how valuable mud was to my childhood. Had I not been at a camp every summer where I was able to play around in mud and run through the woods all day, I would not be the person I am today. I think I did most of my growing and much of my learning in informal environments such as camp. It sounds to me like this school is trying to replicate those learning experiences...in a classroom. Not saying it's the way to go...but certainly an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!

Waldorf philosophy is different approach. For example, children learn to write first before they learn to read. As a result children may learn to read as late as 8 or 9. It's based on the anthroposophy philosophy. Children's who parents value these things will do well in a school without technology. Children who are plugged in at home would have a difficult time. This is effective for private school but not public school.

Seems like it's written by an IBM publicist, but still interesting to see private sector investment following Race to the Top funding.

I could see that being useful because it provides immediate feedback and used correctly could impact reward networks.

Thanks for this, Anna. I saw this group as part of an interview on ABC about iPads. Their data really gets me thinking about the educational and home space and how we need to design content to leverage the technology that is most accessible to them - and the iPad isn't the "golden ticket" (at least in this age span).

CommonSense is a strong organization - they have a comprehensive database of reviews of content, so if you are a parent looking for the low down on a media product (whether it be a TV show, video game, movie, etc.), commonsense is a good place to get an overview of the product. I have heard arguments, however, that their tendency is to be more conservative in their reviews. May not work for every parent, but definitely a good resource! For other groups like this one, check out the following: Temple's Media Education Lab, http://mediaeducationlab.com/ ; Children Now, http://www.childrennow.org/index.php/learn/talking_with_kids//television.html ; The LAMP http://www.thelampnyc.org/ ; and Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/